BOURBON AND BRANCH

Start with an Italian dinner in North Beach – the neighborhood where the Beat generation resided in the fifties – then take a cab to the corner of Jones and O’Farrell. Look for the anti-prohibition league sign above an unmarked door, and knock.You are at Bourbon and Branch, a speakeasy with some of the best cocktails on the West Coast. Reserve a slot online first and note down your password, which you mutter through a slot in the door to enter. The intimate room is manned by snappily dressed waiters, with the low tap of jazz playing in the background.

The house specialty, the Pinkerton, consists of Hayman’s Old Tom Gin, Laird’s 100 Proof Apple Brandy, Zucca amaro, Cardamaro amaro and cinnamon-infused orange bitters. I went for the smooth Celtic Smash – which set me up perfectly for a night under the streetlights of old San Francisco.

501 Jones St.; bourbonandbranch.com BT